Oregon City Council last month unanimously approved a request for a Special Use Exception (SUE) in a non-agricultural area at 6338 Brown Road for the purpose of housing livestock.

The applicants and property owners, Mohamad Tawil and his wife Nabil, requested the SUE in an R-1 Low Density Residential District.

The Planning Commission on April 19 had recommended approval of the SUE.

Council held a public hearing on the proposed SUE on May 23.

The property, surrounded by agricultural zoning on two sides, is on the south side of Brown Road, west of Bury Road. The lot size is 336 feet by 282 feet, with a seven-and-a-half foot concrete wall surrounding the backyard portion that the owners say will encompass cages and noise.

This Independence Day marked an extra-special occasion for the residents at Lutheran Homes Society’s Luther Ridge Senior Apartments in Oregon.

In mid-afternoon, the residents gathered for a flag-raising ceremony, which was accompanied by a 21-gun salute presented by VFW Post 2984.

The ceremony was a testament to the patriotism and of a group of Luther Ridge residents known as the “Kitchen Chain Gang.”

Since the apartment community opened, the five ladies have been on a mission to get a flagpole for the facility – but it just wasn’t in the budget.

Surprisingly, the realization of their goal began when a tornado tore through the area June 5, 2010. One area hit especially hard was Lake Township, where at the Lake Township Administration Building, one life was lost, the building was destroyed and the property – including the flagpole – was ravaged.

John Trendell, of Brown Road, asked Oregon City Council at a recent meeting if there were any plans to repair “one of the worst streets in Oregon.”

“It’s an embarrassment to the city,” Trendall said of Dustin Road.

“I ask that something be done with that, and not just a Band-Aid,” he added, “because that concrete is completely destroyed. It’s something that council should look at.”

He also inquired about installing new sidewalks on Navarre Avenue, which he said are also in bad shape.

“I’m a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at Coy and Navarre. As it is now, there’s a beaten path on our frontage where people have walked. Also motorized wheelchairs end up on Navarre Avenue because there’s no sidewalks to Wal-Mart,” said Trendall. “Wal-Mart is one of our newest businesses in town and I’m sure they would appreciate the fact that they’d have a decent sidewalk for the people to go to their store. We want sidewalks at St. Paul’s Church, and we would like to see some kind of a plan put in place by council and the city to make it so that the Navarre Avenue gateway is truly a pedestrian-friendly area to walk in.”

The Chinese development firm Dashing Pacific completed the purchase of 69 acres of Marina District property on July 1, marking the first major milestone in the development of the East Toledo property.

The $3.8 million purchase agreement includes additional options for Dashing Pacific to purchase and develop more land in the 127-acre Marina District. Dashing Pacific already owns The Docks restaurant complex near International Park.